India’s indigenous fifth-gen fighter jet AMCA
Context:
- Recently the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) cleared a Rs 15,000 crore project to design and develop the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) which is India’s fifth-generation fighter multirole fighter jet.
- The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) which is under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will be the nodal agency for executing the programme and designing the aircraft.
- The AMCA will be manufactured by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
- The aircraft will also put India in a select group of nations which have their own fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
Features of AMCA:
1. STEALTH features:
- It is a 25-tonne twin-engine aircraft and will be bigger than the other fighters in the Indian Air Force inventory.
- It will have advanced stealth features to avoid detection by enemy radar.
- Project director of AMCA at ADA had noted that the aircraft would be on par or even superior to other fifth-generation stealth fighter aircraft in use globally.
- He also noted that the after the development of the LCA (Light Combat Aircraft Tejas) project, which is a contemporary fighter aircraft, this aircraft (AMCA) would be able to compete with other stealth fighters in the world.
2. FUEL & WEAPONS features:
- The aircraft will have a large, concealed internal fuel tank of about 6.5-tonne capacity, and an internal weapons bay for a range of weapons which include indigenous weapons, to be buried in its belly.
3. ENGINE parameters:
- The AMCA Mk1 variant will have the US-built GE414 engine of the 90 kilonewton (kN) class.
- But the more advanced AMCA Mk2 will fly on the more powerful 110kN engine, which will be developed indigenously by DRDO’s Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) in collaboration with a foreign defence major.
- India has been talking with Safran SA of France which is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of aircraft engines and related equipment, in order to finalise the roadmap for the development of the combat aircraft engine.
- Other features include diverterless supersonic inlet for controlling air flow into the engines, and also a serpentine air intake duct to shield the engines from radar emissions.
The uniqueness of AMCA:
- The ideas to develop the AMCA started in the year 2007.
- The initial and previous plan was to jointly develop this aircraft with Russia under a Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) programme.
- But, India withdrew from the FGFA project in 2018.
- So, the AMCA will be India’s indigenous fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
- The indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) which is Tejas, is a 4.5-generation single-engine multirole aircraft.
- The AMCA will have a low electro-magnetic signature, which will make it difficult for enemy radar to detect it.
- At the same time, AMCA will have powerful sensors and new weapons, so as to able to register the signature of enemy aircraft and take them out.
- It is important to note that the fourth-generation aircraft is typically not designed or configured to have these stealth features, even though some features may be added later.
- But even after the added features that will not make it a fully fifth-generation aircraft.
- Stealth features which include an internal weapons bay and a bigger internal fuel tank are part of fifth-generation aircraft like AMCA.
- It can carry up to four long-range air-to-air missiles and multiple precision guided munitions in the internal weapons bay, with a payload of 1,500 kg.
- External fuel tanks and externally-attached weapons leave a huge signature and are very easy to be detected for radar.
- The special material in AMCA that will be used on the aircraft surface will divert the radar signature instead of reflecting it back.
- Another important feature would be to ensure a higher utilisation time and also smaller serviceability or maintenance periods for the aircraft.
- This will be aided by the inclusion of a comprehensive Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) system to keep track of multiple structural components, and also to assess the condition of the aircraft in real time.
Other fifth-generation fighters:
- Only a few countries in the world have built a fifth-generation stealth fighter aircraft.
- The list of the aircraft currently in service includes the F-22 Raptor and F-35A Lightning II of the United States, the Chinese J-20 Mighty Dragon, and the Russian Sukhoi Su-57.
